Jackie MacMullan is an NBA journalist who has written for The Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and ESPN. She hosts the podcast Icons Club for The Ringer. “[Athletes] think they don’t need journalists—and they’re wrong. And I tell them all this. I’m like, ‘I know you think you’ve got your own production company, but we can tell your story better than you can.’…

“Human beings, we are the same, right? Like when you come out of the womb, you need to eat, you need to sleep, you need to pee, you need to shit, and when it comes to emotional needs, you need to feel loved. You need to feel there’s compassion, you know? You need to feel…